The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced in a report published on Monday “a regular use of torture and illegal detention” by the Cameroonian authorities against English-speaking separatists.

HRW claims to have “documented 26 cases of illegal detention and enforced disappearance at the detention centre of the Secretariat of State for Defence between January 2018 and January 2019, including 14 cases of torture”.

The 26 cases concern English-speaking separatists or persons suspected of being so, HRW added. Gendarmes and other security forces at the State Secretariat of Defense (SED) used severe beatings and near-drownings to obtain confessions.

Among them, “ten were leaders of the self-proclaimed Ambazonia interim government,” the NGO detailed.

The English-speaking separatists of Cameroon, a country with a French-speaking majority, are campaigning for the creation of an independent state in the North-West and South-West regions on behalf of Ambazonia.

At the end of 2017, after a year of protest, separatists took up arms against Yaoundé. Since then, these regions have been the scene of an armed conflict that has continued to grow.

“Gendarmes and other security forces at the State Secretariat of Defense (SED) used severe beatings and near-drownings to obtain confessions,” the NGO said in its publication. In this report, HRW also cites cases of torture inflicted by separatists on civilians.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense denounced on Facebook the “guilty silence and complicity of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the international media” in the face of abuses committed by separatists against civilians.

In mid-April, a HRW researcher working on the conflict in the English-speaking area was denied entry to Cameroon at Douala airport.

In twenty months, the conflict in the English-speaking area has killed 1,850 people, according to the International Crisis Group, a centre for geopolitical analysis. It has already forced more than 530,000 people to flee their homes, according to the UN.

At the initiative of the United States, the UN Security Council will hold its first meeting on the crisis in English-speaking Cameroon on May 13, which will focus on the humanitarian situation.

“The UN Security Council should send a clear message that ending torture in detention is crucial to responding to the crisis in English-speaking regions,” HRW commented in its report on Monday.

On Thursday, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, arrived in Cameroon for a four-day visit, where she met with President Paul Biya on Friday.

Source: AFP

Two Southern Cameroons civilians were recently killed by French Cameroun soldiers in Wowo village, Ndu sub constituency in the Northern Zone of Ambazonia.

The French Cameroun Divisional Officer for Ndu, Adamu Shuaibu who confirmed the killings said the Southern Cameroons civilians were “accidentally killed” by the soldiers as they raided the area in attempt to flush out Ambazonian Restoration Forces.

The French Cameroun colonial officer further revealed that the soldiers had left Ndu for Wowo on Friday on a mission to clear off the village of any suspected armed separatist fighter and to repair a bridge reportedly destroyed by the Southern Cameroons Self Defense forces

“In pursuing the separatists, the soldiers mistakenly shot and killed two civilians- a young man and an elderly person- who were hiding in the bush” the D.O

By Sama Ernest with files from Journal du Cameroun

In the run up to the so-called National Day on May 20 – in New York, before having Inner City Press roughed up and banned, Guterres’ chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti and his Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed partied with Tommo Monthe in a Manhattan townhouse singing “Buvez du champagne,” Video here, from 4:30 — this: “The insecurity in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon keeps paralysing activities in that part of the country despite the failure of administrative officials to admit the fact.

The Divisional Officer of Alou, Lebialem Division of the South West region has convened a meeting in Dschang to prepare for the National Day celebrations.  Due to the insecurity in Alou, the meeting cannot hold in the locality but in neighbouring Dschang in the West region of Cameroon.” We’ll have more in the approach to this ghoulish Cameroun National Day, including in New York. In the village of Ikata in SW Cameroon on April 26 Paul Biya’s soldiers shot unarmed civilians including a woman named as Glory, and burned houses down. 

While Guterres’ UN does nothing about the outrage of Nigeria sending back to military custody refugees and asylum seekers, the Southern Cameroons leader Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine others were expected in court on Monday April 29 where their hearing continues but they have now released a statement through their defense team saying they will not be appearing.  Their lawyers say given the fact that they have taken the matter to Appeal court all proceedings at a lower jurisdiction (military tribunal) must be halted as per the law on criminal proceedings. 

 The lawyers have since appealed a decision by the Military tribunal to judge the detained leaders in Cameroon despite the fact that they are refugees and asylum seekers. One would have thought that former UNHCR chief Guterres would not collude in this, but that was before the golden statue and UN Budget Committee deals with Biya’s ambassador Tommo Monthe.

 Guterres is killing what’s left of the UN’s credibility with his corruption and no due process censorship. Of course, Guterres and Dujarric won’t answer questions from Inner City Press not only about Cameroon but even about how 27 new Resident Coordinators are being recruited. Their UN is increasingly corrupt.

Inner Press

For the past three years, practicing journalism has become a daunting task for journalists in Cameroon’s conflict hit regions as the war tearing the English-Speaking community apart from the rest of the country deepens.

The humanitarian impact of the crisis which is now in its third year is only partially being told as the majority of media workers who have constantly reported about the crisis are labeled as terrorists or criminals.

Kiven Brenda, a renowned female journalist in Bamenda has not been in possession of her laptop for two years now, after it was confiscated by Security Officials in the North West Region.

She tells me that, government’s pressure and constant threats almost forced her to abandon her pen and give up on journalism in order to stay safe. 

My laptop is still at the Judicial Police, seized February 2017. That is my work instrument where I stored all my data. I lost them all as I am not sure the laptop will ever be returned to me again…

Brenda revealed that her home was visited by security forces in her absence but despite these threats and harassment, she refuses to give up.  

There came a time when I felt like giving up when they locked up the radio station, Radio Hot Cocoa, because they said we became unprofessional. Police came and searched my home] No matter how fair and balanced you are, you need courage to carry on.

According to Atia Tilarious in Buea, Acting Editor-in-Chief at The Sun Newspaper, the two belligerent parties in the armed conflict are making the practice of journalism hideous.

Atia spent over eight months in Yaoundé prison for doing his job as a journalist. He told me how every journalist is a potential terrorist in this time of crisis as the government uses the anti-terrorism law to silence the press. 

Things have been further compounded by the obnoxious laws that we have, like the law of December 23, 2014 on the suppression of acts of terrorism that defines terrorism so broadly as to make the work of journalists difficult such as insulting state security, personalities, revolution, and insurrection.

This, according to Atia, explains why the story of the suffering masses in the North West and South West regions are yet to be told.

Journalists have tried their best but we have not done enough because, the humanitarian side of the crisis is not being told.

We focus more on what the armed groups and soldiers have done, but we fail to present the picture of the suffering masses. Those whose houses have been burned, destroyed, families killed, what has become of them, it’s a difficult thing for journalists to cover at this age and I think there is much more we must be doing.

We have to live to tell the story and if we risk our lives to get this kind of information, who else will be left to tell the story?

The independence of the media in Cameroon has been a timeless debate, with the government assuring the national and international communities of its liberty.

But the escalation of the anglophone crisis has gone a long way to contradict this perception of the government, as media workers are not provided with guaranteed security instruments.

Editor-in-Chief at My Prime Media, Kum Leonard describes the media climate as more complex.

The worsening sociopolitical situation in the Northwest and Southwest Regions has made the job of media persons more complex. Our independence is being threatened more as days go by, because both factions in the ongoing crisis seek favorable attention from the Press. One becomes a direct target by either of the sides, once your reporting is judged out of favour for a party. Journalism is caught between two extremes, with each wanting the media to pick up a propaganda role in its favour.And, out of fear, many have given in to undertaking a role that puts them squarely out of their professional role of objective, accurate and fair reporting…

The president of SNJC South West President noted that the battle is now between the media, government forces and non-state armed groups.

On the one hand, the government has all it takes to arrest and lock up journalists for what they consider as offensive to public, on the other hand, pro-independence activists could target journalists considered too pro-government. Reporting therefore becomes a risky venture.

Derick Jato, Marcel Fonkwen and Rose Obah have constantly received threats, harassment and intimidation from government and non-government actors.

However, they  said that security is not the only barrier to press freedom in the conflict hit North West and South West Regions. Rose Obah, North West President of The Cameroon Community Media Network, lamented:

The curfews, ghost towns and lockdowns have prevented me from meeting deadlines and the quality and frequency of my peace and community development programmes are wanting because of the insecurity and threats regarding the content of my programme and news angles. As a journalist, I believe the situation is getting worse because violence is on the rise.

Meanwhile, Marcel Fokwen of The Post Newspaper, is worried about credible sources of information which have become scarce.

Cameroon’s political challenges have dealt a severe blow to the practice of journalism. The hostile environment has reduced the trust between credible news sources and the reporter.

In the days before the conflict, it was easy to get information from certain sources, but the current hostile atmosphere has shrunken the news source base for me as a journalist. Most of my news sources are no longer willing to speak openly. The crisis has reduced the authoritative tone of certain reports I could do before now.

During this instability, media workers want to be able to talk and exercise their duties freely without reprisals.

But how will that be possible without  genuine political action?

Derick Jato who has been covering the anglophone conflict since 2016 says it could still be years away from ending if nothing is done. The award-winning journalist said:

Three years gone, the only achievement, if that is the right word, is the continuous loss of lives. We have not seen a positive change. It is much more of a talking than an action situation. There is need for action and broad-based dialogue.

As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, at least four journalists are still behind bars because they covered the anglophone crisis.

Source: English Pen